Africa Notes: The Kenya General Election: December 27, 2002 - January 2003

January 6, 2003

The Kenya African National Union (KANU), which has ruled Kenya since independence in December 1963, suffered a disastrous defeat in the country’s general election on December 27, 2002, winning less than one-third of the seats in the new National Assembly. The National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC), which brought together the former ethnically based opposition parties with dissidents from KANU only in October, emerged with a secure overall majority, winning no fewer than 126 seats, while the former ruling party won only 63. Mwai Kibaki, leader of the Democratic Party (DP) and of the NARC opposition coalition, was sworn in as Kenya’s third president on December 30.